Katawa Shoujo Sentou
by James Firebrand
Summary: Yamaku Academy is a school for fighters, where students with supernatural abilities are taught to control their powers. To Hisao Nakai, who seems to have no powers at all, it's an asylum for maniacs.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Katawa Shoujo**

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

**Not quite sure WHAT gave me the idea to write this, other than reading too much BLEACH/Buso Renkin.**

Learning to write in the present tense was a challenge, hopefully I didn't make TOO many errors...

**Hope you enjoy it, either way!**

* * *

A light breeze causes the naked branches overhead to rattle like wooden windchimes.

This is a popular retreat for couples in the summer. The deciduous trees provide a beautiful green canopy, far out of sight of teachers and fellow students. But now, in late winter, it feels like I'm standing under a pile of kindling.

I breathe into my cupped hands and rub them together furiously to prevent them from numbing in this cold.

"Just how long am I expected to wait out here, anyway?" I mutter to myself. "I'm sure the note said 4:00 PM."

Ah yes...the note...slipped between the pages of my math book when I wasn't looking. As far as cliches go, I'm more a fan of the letter-in-the-locker, but at least this way shows a bit of initiative.

As I ponder the meaning of the note, the snowfall gradually thickens. The snowflakes silently falling from the white-painted sky are the only sign of time passing in this stagnant world. Their slow descent upon the frozen forest makes it seem like time has slowed to a crawl.

The rustling of dry snow underfoot startles me, interrupting the quiet mood. Someone is approaching me from behind.

"Hi... Hisao? You came?"

A hesitating, barely audible question. However, I recognize the owner of that dainty voice instantly. I feel my heart skip a beat. It's a voice I've listened to hundreds of times, but never as more than an eavesdropper to a conversation.

I turn to face this voice, the voice of my dreams and my heart begins to race... "Iwanako? I got a note telling me to wait here...it was yours?"

Dammit. I spent all afternoon trying to come up with a good line and that was the result. Pathetic.

"Ahmm... yes. I asked a friend to give you that note... I'm so glad you got it." A shy, joyous smile that makes me so tense I couldn't move a single muscle even if I tried.

My heart is pounding now, as if it were trying to burst out from my chest and claim this girl for itself.

"So... ah... here we are. Out in the cold..."

Once again the wind stirs up the brances. The cacophonous noise is music to my ears. Iwanako flinches ever so softly against the gust of wind. As it passes, she rights herself, as if supported by some new confidence.

Her eyes lock with mine and she lazily twirls her long, dark hair around her finger. All the while, the anxious beating of my heart grows louder. I can feel it growing larger in my chest, swelling with every beat. A lifting sensation begins to rise in my chest.

"You see..."

**TH-THUMP**

"I wanted to know..."

**TH-THUMP TH-THUMP**

"If you'd go out with me..."

Adrenaline begins to work its way through my system as I take a step forward, trying to think of something, anything, to adequately express my joy at her words. I open my mouth to speak as the rising senation in my chest finally crests and I feel something snap in the pit of my stomach, flooding it with liquid heat.

"Hisao?"

My whole body freezes, save for my eyes, which shoot open in terror as the heat from my stomach spreads throughout my body, setting it ablaze.

"HISAO!"

The beating in my chest is growing louder and faster as I go weak at the knees and collapse onto the snow-covered ground. I dig my fingers into the snow and feel it instantly begin melt underneath me from the burning heat of my skin.

I can still hear Iwanako screaming. I struggle to lift my head from the melted snow to see her running towards me. I open my mouth again to croak something, but all that emerges is a scream of my own. There is a moment of blinding pain as everything goes white, then black.

* * *

As I rise up slowly through layers of darkness, the first thing I hear are the voices. There are dozens of them, all yelling and shouting over each other. I try to open my eyes, but even that small effort sends spikes of pain shooting through my eyelids, causing me to moan.

One of the voices, nearer than the others, shouts something about 'he's waking up'. He? He who? Me? I feel myself being lifted and moved for several feet before being gently set down again.

Gathering every bit of energy I can muster, I pry my eyes open, ignoring the pain that spreads across my face from the action. I'm lying on my back, the dull winter sky above me. There's something hard underneath me, supporting my back.

"His eyes are open!" someone shouts from miles away. I can make out blurry figures all around me, scurrying about, reaching for something above me. I bink a few times, tears welling up in my eyes from the pain of the effort, trying to focus them.

The first thing I notice are that the trees around me are missing some of their limbs, broken and bent branches clinging to their trunks here and there.

The second thing I notice is that I'm lying in some kind of huge, wide pit or depression that most definately hadn't been there before.

The third thing I notice is the dark form of Iwanako lying on the ground several yards away, figures swarming around her as well. Fear courses through my system and I desperately try to stand, only to find I can't.

I've been strapped down onto a strecher. The people around me and Iwanako are paramedics.

"Just relax, son!" One of them says, "You're going to be fine!"

"I...wanako..." A voice rasps. I barely recognize it as my own.

"She'll be fine too, now just settle down!"

It was only then I realize that ropes were being tied to my strecher as they prepare to lift me out of the pit. As they slowly haul me up, I can see that there are police officers mixed in with the paramedics and once I'm out of the pit I can see ambulances and police cars arranged in a semi-circle around the pit. There are clumps of students staring at the scene too, kept at bay by teachers and officers.

I don't care. Up until the moment they load me into the ambulance and close the door, my eyes never leave the dark form of Iwanako lying on the snow-covered ground.

* * *

I'm in the hospital for only a few days. Despite a battery of tests of every type and discription, the doctors can't find anything wrong with me, other than acute exhaustion. I describe what happened over and over again, both to the doctors and the police.

Witnesses reported a blinding flash of light and a sound like an explosion. When they reached me and Iwanako, we were both lying unconscious in the pit.

No matter how many times I go over it though, it never makes any more sense and I can see the suspicion grow in the eyes of the doctors. Suspicion that I'm lying, or somehow responsible for whatever it was that had happened. I problably am.

One night I sneak out of my bed and slip down the hallway to Iwanako's room. I'd overheard nurses discussing our case earlier, so I knew where it was. She's still unconscious. I sit in the chair by her bed for what seems like hours, looking at her.

I replay those last few moments over and over again in my head as I lie in my bed, trying to make sense of it. My mind comes up with every outlandish explination from a terrorist attack, to aliens, to ghosts, to a misfiring of a secret military weapon. None of them seem to fit.

Nobody can explain what happened. The police eventually give up, and a few days after I'm admitted, I'm informed the doctors would be releasing me the next day, unable to find anything wrong with me.

Iwanako still hasn't woken up.

* * *

Later the same day, as I'm lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, when my parents walk in, followed by a youngish man with a bland looking smile.

My father clears his throat, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Hisao," he begins, "There's someone we'd like you to meet."

The man extends a hand and I shake it automatically, looking between him and my dad who continues. "He heard about your...accident, and after talking with him, we believe that it would be best if you don't return to your old school."

"What?"

Dad winces. "Please calm down, Hisao and listen to what we have to say...

"Why? What's wrong with my going back to school?"

The man laughs, not unkindly, as he grabs a chair by my bedside and spins it around before sitting down in it backwards. "Nothing," he says, "If you want a repeat of what happened to you."

I look at him. "Are you a doctor?"

He smiles like a person who has heard this very same question hundreds of times.

"I represent a certain private school that specializes in educating students with special... abilities."

I look at him blankly. "Abilities?"

One corner of his mouth quirks into a smile. "Powers." He clarifies. "You see, Hisao, you were born with a gift. An incredible ability most people only have in their dreams. Yamaku Academy was founded in order to train people like you to control your power."

I look at my parents, trying to see if this is some kind of joke. "Please, Hisao, listen to him," Mom pleads. "We were skeptical too, at first, but we went to Yamaku ourselves the other day and...it's incredible."

"He's telling the truth." My father confirms.

I turn back to the man in the chair next to me, an indulgent smile on his face. "I'm surprised you're so skeptical, Hisao. After all, you know what you went through. How else can you explain it?"

"But what about my friends at school?"

He gives a short bark of a laugh. "Your friends? They're all afraid of you."

My eyes widen. "Of me?"

"Think about it. How many of them have come to visit you?"

I think about it and realize he's right. Up until now, I haven't had a single person enter this room whom I could adequately describe as a 'visitor'

He continues as the realization is sitting in, his face serious now. "Besides. We can't let you go back to your old school now. At the moment, you're a danger to yourself and your classmates. Your friend survived this time. Next time, those around you may not be so lucky. You need to learn to control your power, Hisao, or you _will_ end up hurting someone."

I feel numb, but realize he's right. I've heard the saying "When God closes a door, he opens a window," before. Only in this case he didn't so much close the door as slam it while I was still in the doorway and knock me on my ass.

I nod slowly, "...OK."

His face lights up as he stands. "Excellent," he beams. "I think you'll like Yamaku, Hisao. You've got a whole new life waiting for you there."

Which implies that my old life is inferior. I want to feel resentful, but can't. On some level, he's right. My life before now, while not bland, certainly wasn't anything special. And now it's all been ripped away and a new life has been thrust on me.

Something occurs to me as the man steps out the door.

"Hey, wait!" I call and he pauses, turning to face me, his grin still in place.

"Yes?"

"I never caught your name."

His grin widens and he winks. "See you at Yamaku, Hisao..."

* * *

**And we're off! Here's to hoping I can live up to the standard already set by the source material!**


	2. Settling In

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Katawa Shoujo  
**  
**Chapter 2: Settling In**

**You all can thank the awesome god that is Monty Oum for this. I didn't have the inspiration for the last 1,000 words but for him. But even so. 7 months between updates? That's a RECORD for me. Enjoy!**

* * *

The gate looked far too pompous for what it was. In fact, gates in general seem to do that, but this one especially so. Red bricks, black wrought iron and gray plaster, assembled into a whole that didn't feel welcoming at all. I wondered if it looked like what a gate for a school for students with super-powers should look like, but couldn't really decide. Problably not.

Of course I didn't want to get stuck thinking about the gate for too long, so I entered through it, looking around. I walk towards the main building of Yamaku Academy slowly, looking around.

I'm alone, as my parents are taking my stuff to the dorms and there's supposed to be someone waiting for me, but I don't see anyone.

The grounds are incredibly lush, filled with green. It doesn't feel like the kind of grounds a school would have, more like a park, with a clean walkway going past trees and the smell of fresh-cut grass and all other park-like things.

Before I can get a good look around, I hear a loud wooshing noise and spin around, trying to see what caused it.

"That him?"

The voice comes from somewhere above, and I look up. There, crouching on the branches of a tree like a pair of predators, are two girls, both in school uniforms. One, with bubblegum pink hair that spirals into drills past her shoulders has an excited, dangerous glint in her eye. The other has short, blue hair and glasses. Her eyes are hard, boring into my own as she gives a brief, sharp nod.

"Good," the pink-haired girl snaps as she drives a fist into her palm. "Let's go!"

I finally stop gaping up at them long enough to open my mouth to ask a question. Before I can, I hear the wooshing sound again as the blue-haired one disappears from my sight and I feel something explode against the side of my face.

The world spins, and before my mind can begin to comprehend what's happening, I hit the ground, and roll for several feet. I lie there for a moment, stunned, before automatically trying to pick myself up, noting somewhere in the back of my mind the feeling of the side of my face already starting to swell up.

No sooner have I gotten to my feet however, than I hear a shout as the pink-haired girl appears before me, her foot colliding with my stomach, smashing the air out of my lungs. I double over involuntarily, my legs starting to give way beneath me once again, but before I can fall, I feel another blow against the bottom of my chin. Stars explode in my eyes as my head snaps back and everything goes black.

* * *

"Ugh..." I wince, squeezing my eyes shut tighter as light penetrates the lids, prompting me to roll over, turning away from the glare.

"Ah, good to see you're awake."

I blink once or twice, prying my eyes open to see the guy from the hospital, the one who'd told me about Yamaku, standing over me, wearing a white lab coat and a scowl on his face.

"Feeling alright?"

Suddenly, the memory of being attacked by two ninja-schoolgirls comes rushing back and I lift a hand to the side of my face where (I assume) I'd been punched, expecting to find it swollen. It wasn't. I run my tongue over my molars. No loose teeth, either.

"...Fine..." I say in surprise, sitting up slowly. By all rights, I should be a mass of bruises and aches with a few missing teeth thrown in for good measure.

He smiles a little, holding up his arms. "Healing hands. Quite literally." He explains. "Main reason I'm head nurse here."

"Nurse? I thought you said you were a recruiter of some sort..."

His grin widens. "Let's just say I'm a man of many hats."

"I see..."" I take a moment to look around what is obviously his office.

The desk in the middle of the room is neat and tidy, but the bin under the table is overflowing with used medical utensils and there are at least a dozen coffee-cup rings lingering on the desk.

The room is not large and it smells strange. It's the epitome of generic, I'd like to say. Beige walls and ceiling, dark gray laminate flooring, and all the equipment you'd expect from a school nurse's office. Even the ridiculous educational posters are hanging on all four walls, reminding me to eat properly - three times a day and from all the food groups.

The more I see of Yamaku, the more it seems like your average academy. Well, except for the kung fu girls...

I take another look around the room, half-expecting them to jump out from behind the desk wielding nunchucks or something. The nurse senses my apprehension and huffs, folding his arms. "I must apologize for Hakamichi and Mikado. I told them to show you around, not beat you senseless. They're two of the best fighters here, but sometimes..."

He shook his head, but something he'd said caught my attention. "Wait, fighters?"

He nodded. "That's right."

"So...they're in the Akido club or something?"

His grin, which had been gone for so long, made a sudden return appearance. "Not necessarily. Yamaku doesn't have an Akido or even a Kendo club. At least not the traditional type. Doesn't really need one, after all."

"Why not?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What, you didn't know?"

"Know what?" There was a sinking feeling as that vision of Yamaku as a mostly-normal academy fades away.

"I told you Yamaku trained young people like yourself to control their abilities. That means training them to fight."

I can only stare at him, dumbfounded, as he continues. "Apparently when I told Mikado and Hakamichi to show you around, they decided to take the opportunity to gauge your strength. Speaking of which..."

He crossed to the door and opened it, sticking his head out into the hallway. "Alright, get in here," he called, before stepping back into the room and folding his arms sternly, as the two girls from before follow him back in.

The pink haired one has a huge grin on her face, while the blue haired one just looks bored.

"I think you two owe Hisao here an apology." The nurse prompts.

"Sorry, sorry!" The pink haired one laughs, not sounding very sorry at all. Her friend snorts disdainfully, pointedly not looking at me.

I shrug awkwardly. "It's okay..." I mumble under my breath, still wary of them. I'm fairly certain they won't try anything with a faculty member standing not ten feet from them, but you never know.

Unfortunately, the nurse chooses that moment to deny me any hope of safety. "Now, take Hisao back outside and show him around. _Without_ bludgeoning him senseless this time. If I see him back in here before tomorrow for any reason, you'll be healing your own stab wounds for the next week, got it?"

The bluenet rolls her eyes, as her accomplice lets out an obnoxiously loud laugh. Distressingly, the nurse seems to take both of these as affirmative responses.

"Good. Take him to Mutou first so he can get him entered in the database."

"Okay! C'mon Hicchan!" The pink haired one bubbles.

I ignore the nickname for the moment, glancing at the nurse apprehensively. He notices my trepidation and grins. "Don't worry. They won't bite...this time."

That does not fill me with confidence, but I dutifully get to my feet and follow my assailants out into the hall warily.

"I just realized we haven't introduced ourselves yet!" the pink-haired girl chirps as she leads me down the hallway; her friend keeping her gaze fixed ahead. "I'm Misha, and this is Shizune. Nice to meet you, Hicchan!" She beams, as if she hadn't beaten me unconscious not twenty minutes earlier.

"Uh...nice to meet you too..."

Shizune is staring pointedly at the brick wall next to us.

"Oh, yeah..." Misha giggles. "Sorry again about earlier. We didn't mean to knock you out, but we had no idea you'd be so weak!"

"Weak?" Sure, I'm no Charles Atlas, but I'm not exactly a featherweight either. Then again, these two did just force-feed me a knuckle sandwich, so I guess weak and strong are relative terms.

"Yeah, the nurse told us you accidentally blasted a crater in the ground at your old school, so we were expecting something awesome like remote detonation or something!"

She frowned and cocked her head. "So what is it that you do anyway?"

"Uhhh...I'm not sure..." Truth be told, I hadn't really thought about it before. All this time, I've been more concerned with learning how to prevent another catastrophic re-surgance of my power than classifying it.

"Oh..." Misha seems a bit disappointing but perks back up right away. "Oh, well. That's what we're going to see Muto for, anyway!"

"Who's he?"

"He's the guy who runs most of the systems around here!"

"Systems?" I asked as Misha pushed open the door and we walked back out onto the school grounds. The more I learned about this place, the less I knew.

"Yeah! For example," she pointed to the walls surrounding Yamaku. "he's got some kind of power dampeners installed in there." She explained. "Basically, they don't let anyone on the outside see inside."

"What? Like invisibility?" I'm surprised, but not as much as I should be. It makes me uncomfortable to realize how quickly I'm becoming comfortable outlandish things like magic healing and invisibility fields.

"Nooo..." Misha pursed her lips, thinking. "They can still see the school, they just can't see anything out of the ordinary about it."

"I see..." I replied, thinking about how Misha had said the word 'they'. Like normal people were outsiders, unwelcome in this new world I'd ended up in.

I take another look around as we walk across the school grounds. Yamaku just does not look like a school for fighters. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what a school for fighters is supposed to look like. Some kind of military base, maybe? But Yamaku just looks like your average, high-class boarding school. But then again, maybe that's the point...

I take another look at the other girl, Shizune, out of the corner of my eye as I look around. Her hair is short, yet carefully, neatly brushed, so dark as to almost be black. Her glasses balance on the tip of her nose, through which she stares straight ahead. I get the feeling she knows I'm looking at her, but doesn't consider it worth her while to acknowledge my presence.

I shrug mentally as we enter one of the smaller buildings on the campus, a squat, rectangular shape sitting roughly in the center of the school's grounds. The inside is a single room with white walls and a tile floor, the entire room humimng with the sound of a dozen electronics running at once.

Half of the space in the room is taken up by lab benches, each one covered in assorted electronics in varying stages of assembly. The other half of the room is occupied by rows of machines which look like a cross between medieval torture machines and doomsday devices.

An array of computers sits against one wall, the screen of each one displaying the type of information I'd need at least eleven hard science degrees to understand. A muted TV hanging in one corner of the ceiling is tuned to a 24-hour news station. In all, the room gave the impression of belonging to the love child of an evil genius and the absent-minded professor. I half-expected to see one of those rising-energy things with the dual coils sitting in the corner.

There doesn't seem to be anyone around though, which causes me slow as I enter the room. Shizune doesn't, shoving past me as Misha bounces ahead.

"Muuuuutoo-sensei~! Where are you~?"

There's a rattling crash as one of the lab benches jumps, sending it's contents spilling onto the floor, followed by a salvo of expletives coming from under the bench itself.

"DAMMIT, MIKADO!" A tall, scruffy-looking man roars as he staggers to his feet on the other side of the spooked lab bench, rubbing the back of his head. "How many times do I have to tell you to knock before you come in!"

Misha stops bouncing and pouts. "But you never hear my knocks, so I just have to come in anyway..."

"That's not the point; it's the principle of the thing!" Mutou grouses as he starts scooping up computer parts from the floor and dumping them back onto the bench.

He sighs in resignation as he straightens, which only serves to highlight his bad posture. "What do you want?"

"The nurse told us to bring Hicchan here so you could get him analyzed and registered!" Misha chirps, already back to her grinning self.

I frown. "Hicchan?" That's never been a nickname I've been particularly fond of.

Muto's scowl remains fixed as he turns to face me and for a moment I'm worried he's going to snap at me too. Then recognition dawns on his face and the lines in his forehead smooth out. "Oh. You must be the Niki boy. I'm Mutou."

He holds out a hand and I shake it. "Pleased to meet you. And it's Nakai, sir."

He furrows his brow for a moment, as if trying to figure out what I'm talking about, before it dawns on him. "Oh. Whatever." I shoot Misha a glance and receive one of her trademark giggles in response.

By now Muto's moved to a computer that's sprouting cables like tentacles from some Lovecraftian horror. A few clicks are all it takes to bring up my picture on the monitor, followed by my personal information, height, weight and such.

Muto's eyes flick over the information as he scrolls down my page. "So you caused some sort of explosion at your old school?" he asks. "That would make you a Class...B?"

"A Class what?"

"Never mind," he says, clicking to close my profile and opening another program. "We'll find out in a few minutes. Stand in that." he points to what looks like a giant gyroscope sitting next to one of the tables.

I eye the machine warily. It's certainly tall enough for someone to stand in the middle of the surrounding rings, but... I glance around the room nervously, searching for support. Shizune is leaning against one of the tables, her gaze drilling a hole in the tile, while Misha is hovering around Muto, glancing over his shoulder as his fingers fly across the keyboard.

Taking a deep breath, I edge over to the...whatever it is and gingerly squeeze myself between it's rings, standing on an elevated platform.

"Good." Muto says without looking up from the computer screen. "Now, don't move."

I suddenly find that my fears have been substantiated as the machine begins to hum, and the rings beginning to spin, slowly at first, but picking up speed.

"Uh...Muto-sensei? Are you sure this thing is safe?" I call over the increasing hum.

"Nobody's died yet!"

"What?!"

My shout is drowned out by the machines now deafening hum, and I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing myself to stand still. At the speed those rings are spinning around, I'd probably lose a finger, at the least.

The humming abruptly stops, and I crack an eye open. The rings have stopped spinning and Muto is giving me a hard look.

"I didn't do anything!" I say quickly.

"I'll say you didn't." Muto replies, turning back to glare at the computer screen.

"What's wrong, Muto-sensei?" Misha chirps.

"Nakai's not registering. Normally, the metascanner would tell us what kind of abilities he has, or at least give us a clue, but there's...nothing."

"You sure everything's plugged in?" Coming from anyone other than Misha, the question would've sounded sarcastic.

"Yes, I'm sure everything's plugged in." Muto responds dryly, his fingers rattling across the keyboard again. "There's nothing wrong with the scanner, so it must be something to do with Nakai."

"Me?" I ask as I try to disentangle myself from the rings of the whatever-scanner.

"Your power clearly isn't metaphysical," Muto says, moving over to another computer, "so, it must be physical. Get on that and try a few reps." He points to what looks like a bench press frame without weights.

I move over to it, and slide onto the bench, taking the bar in my hands, testing it's weight. I'm relieved that this test seems safe enough.

"We'll start easy," Muto calls over to me, as he presses a button, "200 kilos should do it."

"200 wha-URGH!" My question gets cut off as the bar suddenly becomes much, much heavier, forcing my arms down until it slams into my chest, driving the air from my lungs.

I try to suck in a breath only to find my lungs unresponsive due to the crushing weight pressing down on them. I start thrashing about wildly, kicking my legs as I try to disengage myself from the deathtrap.

"Uh...Muto-sensei? I think Hicchan is suffocating..."

I can hear Misha, but I can't see her. In fact, I can't see anything anymore as my vision starts clouding over. I'm finding it harder and harder to move as my limbs fill up with lead. Suddenly, the weight on my chest vanishes and I inhale deeply, dousing the burning fire in my lungs with air.

"You okay, Hicchan?" Misha asks as she pulls the bar off of my chest.

My body still considers oxygen too precious a resource to waste any on words, so I'm forced to settle for a nod.

"Don't worry, Nakai!" Muto calls over his shoulder from where he's typing away at another computer. "There are plenty of other ways to gauge your abilities. We'll find one that works!"

By this point, I've recovered enough to respond with a dignified whimper.

* * *

Half an hour later I'm standing outside the lab, staring blankly off into space as I try to reassure myself that am I still alive.

"Don't worry, Hicchan!" Misha chirps as she slaps me on the back with a surprising amount of force, snapping me back to reality. "I'm sure Muto-sensei will figure out a way to detect your powers soon! I'll bet it'll be something really awesome too!" she gushes, "Like telekinesis or solar manipulation!"

"...right..." I respond, still too relieved at still having all my limbs intact to wonder what solar manipulation is.

Misha tilts her head, frowning. "You look pretty tired, Hicchan. Maybe you should go take a nap or something..."

Shizune snorts and pointedly looks away.

"Awww, don't be like that, Shicchan! It's only his first day, after all! And we haven't exactly been gentle with him either." Misha giggles at her own innuendo, but Shizune just rolls her eyes. "Anyway, you know where the dorms are? We can show you!"

"Er...that's alright." I say hastily. I can feel my life expectancy dropping faster the longer I'm around these two. "Could you point me in the right direction, though?"

"Sure! It's that way, you can't miss it." Misha points in a direction past the main building complex. Shizune gives her a pointed look and Misha giggles.

"Okay, thanks!" I say, as I hurry in the direction indicated. There is a garden of sorts between the school and the dorms; shrubbery, flowers and that overbearing smell of fresh cut grass that fills the atmosphere. It dawns on my frazzled mind that the smell feels so novel because I haven't been outside at all for so long.

The dorm building is big and made of red brick. Like the others, it feels way too pompous for what it is, so I push forward, going inside. It takes more time than necessary to fish the key I was given from my pocket.

"Room one-one-nine..."

Despite the ornate exterior, the inside of the dorm is fairly new, functional and boring.

I poke my head around the corner of the common room door. Inside a few students are playing chess, while others play video games. One looks up and meets my gaze, studying me appraisingly before going back to his game.

Seems that only the girls around here are violent. I suppose that's perfectly fine with me.

I climb the stairs to the upper floor. Here, small corridors branch off from the main hallway. Each of these minor halls seems to have a toilet and shower, as well as four rooms. About halfway down the hall, I spy room 119. The nameplates on the rooms adjacent to mine are blank. I guess there are just two of us here. Light shines from below the door of room 117.

I raise my hand to knock on the door of the occupied room, but before I can, the door is flung open and the occupant tackles me around the middle, knocking the wind from my lungs and driving me backwards through my door.

Everything blurs as we tumble across the floor of my room, coming to rest against the far wall. Before I know what's happening, my attacker is standing over me and there are a pair of rather large and shiny handguns in my face.

My heart stops beating as the barrels of the guns being held on me seem to grow, sucking everything in like a black hole. My mouth hangs open, waiting for my brain to give it a message to relay, but nothing comes.

"...tch," My attacker lets out a sigh of disgust and disappointment, lowering his hand cannons. "and here I though I finally had someone to spar against."

I finally get a good look at him. He's about my age, with shaggy black hair and extremely thick eyeglasses. He's wearing the green boy's uniform of the school, as well as a red and gold scarf wrapped around his neck.

He slides the weapons into a pair of shoulder holsters and holds out a hand. "Name's Kenji."

I stare at it blankly for at him for a moment before I realize what he's doing and accept his hand up, still rattled.

His hand is sweaty and his breath stinks of garlic. "Uh...Nakai. Hisao Nakai."

He nods. "Sorry about the surprise greeting, but you can't be too careful. There were some suspicious-looking people going in and out of your room earlier."

"...it was probably my parents." I offer.

Kenji frowns. "Your parents? You sure? 'Cause they could've been some other people, too. You can't judge a book by it's cover. The only one I trust is myself."

I'm about to argue the point, but then I remember the oversized weapons he carries with disturbing casualness. Not that the rest of him isn't disturbing enough.

"Does that mean I shouldn't get to know you, either?"

He thinks about this for a while. "A wise decision. Damn, you are smarter than you look. Which is a good thing considering you're not tough at all."

With that he leaves, and shuts the door behind him. I stare at the closed door for a moment before rubbing my eyes.

Is everyone who goes to Yamaku like this? Am I seriously going to have to put up with randomly being assaulted every day? I'm too tired and nervous to even entertain that notion, so I flop face-first onto my bed, feeling hollow and uncertain.

* * *

**Hey, you guys remember the ORIGINAL plot to Katawa Shoujo? Yeah, wave goodbye to it. It's not going to be around much longer...**

Also, I've hidden 2 Team Fortress 2 references and 1 My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic reference in this chapter! Bonus points to whoever can find them all!  



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